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WHITLINGHAM: December WeBS counts

6th December 2014

A bright and frosty day to carry out the last WeBS counts of the year at Whitlingham. Starting at the west end of the Little Broad there was a large group of ducks, mostly Gadwall. Whilst counting them I noticed a Kingfisher fly up onto a branch, and further round two more Kingfishers flew across the broad. The vegetation had died back enough for me to look for Water Rails, unsuccessfully, and a Goldcrest called nearby.


Once again I scanned the legs of the Black-headed Gulls for foreign-ringed birds but there was no sign of any. All of the gulls were then spooked by some canoeists passing by (a group of which later envoked the ire of the model yachters by canoeing through their course). Further along Graham (a birder from Diss) stopped to let me know that there were quite a few Pochard in the conservation area bay. In total I counted 40 on the Great Broad. A single Shoveler and several Teal were also in the bay, along with 100 Gadwall and 137 Tufted Ducks.

Thorpe Broad also had a decent number of ducks, 70 Tufted, 15 Gadwall, 7 Pochard, 2 Teal and a single Goldeneye. On the spit four Snipe and a Lapwing were visible. A couple of Skylarks and Redwing flew over whilst I stood on the riverbank. With the counts all but complete I scanned the conservation area bay for a while, picking up a couple of previously hidden Little Grebes. I also flushed a Snipe from the area next to the path to the bird screen.

A rather stretched-looking Common Gull

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